by Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 28/97) - Though a Liberal candidate for the Eastern Arctic won't be named until next month, party members already know they will be represented by a woman in the coming federal election.

On April 30 Liberal delegates from across Nunavut (the riding formerly known as Nunatsiaq) will choose either Nancy Lindell or Eva Adams-Klassen to defend the seat vacated by Jack Anawak earlier this month.

Anawak, a Liberal, represented Nunatsiaq in the House of Commons for two terms before being appointed interim commissioner for Nunavut.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced Sunday that a general election would be held June 2.

Lindell, a lifetime resident of Arviat, is secretary-treasurer of the Kivalliq Inuit Association and has served two terms as a hamlet councillor. She got her start in politics as a member of the community's education council.

Adams-Klassen is executive assistant to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. secretary-treasurer Natsiq Kango and is the sister of veteran Liberal Senator Willie Adams.

A resident of Iqaluit, Adams-Klassen has been involved with aboriginal politics on the federal and territorial levels most of her life, and served as past president of the Baffin branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association as well as a suicide prevention volunteer.

This is the first time she has run for elected office and says it will be a learning experience. She wants others to learn from it as well.

"I want to make youth and elders aware of the political processes ... they seem to be the ones that get left out of a lot of things."

Lindell said her people skills are one of her strongest assets. "I truly feel I can work for the people," she said. "I see this as a really important term, with Nunavut becoming a government.

"We still have a lot of work to do and I believe whoever becomes MP will have to work closely with the interim commissioner and Nunavut Tunngavik to lay all of the groundwork."

The nomination meeting will be held in Cambridge Bay, but polling stations will be set up in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet as well.